As per Jackie Chan, his struggles made him the strong-headed and resilient man he is today. In fact, before becoming an actor with a net worth of $400 million, he went through prolonged years of struggles. Starting from his childhood, when the martial artist had to walk down a hill to reach his school from facing rejection as an adult, Chan lived through it all.
While logging every nook and cranny of his life in his autobiographical narrative, the Chinese actor mentioned a time when he had to return home from school by taking lifts to avoid walking. Moreover, he felt grateful to those “good-natured” drivers who would drop him off without asking for any money.
Jackie Chan used shortcuts in childhood to avoid lying to his parents
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Chan was a big and bulky boy in his childhood who used to have an enormous appetite. In fact, as per his book Never Grow Up (2015), he would finish the whole lunch box, that his mother used to give him for school, before arriving. Surprisingly, even that couldn’t smother his hunger, and the five-year-old boy used to spend all the money that was given to him for bus fare, on food. As he shared, “Mom…put some coins in my bag every day so I could take the bus home rather than walk up the hill…Inevitably, though, I spent the money on noodles, and had no choice but to walk home.”
Thus, he had to find a way to reach home within a short time. “If a car passed me, I?d try to thumb a ride, and a lot of good-natured people would give me a lift. I got a ride almost every time, and no one tried to kidnap or hurt me,” shared the martial artist. He knew very well that if his parents find out about him taking a ride, that would be the end of him. So, he kept it a secret.
But there were days when his luck was bad and not a single car passed by. Then, he had to take a shortcut, which was apparently a death trap, to avoid lying to his parents. These mischievous antics eventually landed the small boy in the Chinese Drama Academy for ten years.
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Chan’s days at the academy made his mother cry
Jackie Chan was only seven when he was admitted into the CDA. While in the first place, he loved the ambiance, later he struggled to cope with the environment. As he shared, “My master could have beaten me to death in that time and gotten away with it.?
However, when his mother paid weekly visits to her little boy, she used to weep on seeing the cut marks, bruises, and scars on his body due to punishments. This made his parents regret their decision about enrolling him there.
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Watch This Story – Jackie Chan?s Son? Legs ?Started To Wobble? After Seeing His Father In An Unusual Condition Once
Even though he had a fair share of struggles from a very early age, the adversities couldn’t hinder his sprightly and mischievous nature, which eventually manifested in his incredible comic timing in his movies.